It is hard to believe that it was not until 1910 that the first passacaglia made its appearance in Russian music and some may not know that it was Sergei Taneyev who combined this magnificent formal model from the baroque era with an original Slavic tone.
The slow movement of his piano quintet on this recording is perhaps the high point of this majestic and mighty work in this style, performed by Olga Gollej and the brilliant Leipzig String Quartet.
The Song Cycle op. 34 is a welcome complement, and here the Russian mezzo soprano Marina Prudenskaya offers generous vocal support on these, the two works which were the last of its genre committed to paper by Taneyev.
The piano quintet also profits from the composer’s brilliance as a pianist. This hardly comes as surprise since Taneyev was the soloist who first performed Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Russia during his younger years.
The songs too are rich in expression conveyed in special measure by way of the most deeply poetic and allusive texts. Of the highest contrapuntal mastery, they impressively spotlight the much-lauded Russian soul. Even those who do not know Russian will be most deeply moved. The ARD prizewinner Marina Prudenskaya’s wonderful mezzo-soprano voice conveys a most highly expressive, universal message.
